Resilient self-adjusting wrench

ABSTRACT

A SELF-ADJUSTING WRENCH INCLUDING A HANDLE, A PAIR OF JAWS WHEREIN ONE JAW IS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED TO THE UPPER END OF THE HANDLE AND THE OTHER JAW HAS A RACK PORTION WHICH IS SLIDABLY MOUNTED TO THE PIVOTED JAW, AND THE UPPER END OF THE HANDLE HAVING A PINION WHICH MESHES WITH THE RACK SO AS TO OPEN AND CLOSE THE JAWS. THE PIVOTED JAW HAS A BODY PORTION WITH AN ARCUATE EDGE WHICH HAS CONVOLUTIONS AND A RESILIENT INSERT IS MOUNTED IN THE HANDLE ADJACENT THESE CONVOLUTIONS. A PIN IS MOUNTED WITHIN THE RESILIENT INSERT AND HAS AN EXTENSION THEREBEYOND WHICH RESILIENTLY ENGAGES THE EDGE OF THE PIVOTED JAW UPON THE CONVOLUTIONS SO THAT PIN ACTION ON THE PIVOTED CONVOLUTIONS ENABLES THE USER TO PRESELECT A SPACING BETWEEN THE JAWS AND THEN OBTAIN RATCHETING OPERATION WHEN THE WRENCH IS APPLIED TO A NUT.

March 23; 1971 N. OELAND, JR 3,572,190

RESILIENT SELF-ADJUSTING WRENCH Filed Aug. 26. 1968 FIG. 2.

INVlN'/n/ 4 Q ERNEST N. OELAND,JR.

ERVIN F. JOHNSTON ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,572,190 RESIDENT SELF-ADJUSTING WRENCH Ernest N. Oelaud, In, West Covina, Califi, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Filed Aug. 26, 1969, Ser. No. 853,019 Int. Cl. 1325b 13/12 US. Cl. 81127 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A self-adjusting wrench including a handle, a pair of jaws wherein one jaw is pivotally mounted to the upper end of the handle and the other jaw has a rack portion which is slidably mounted to the pivoted jaw, and the upper end of the handle having a pinion which meshes with the rack so as to open and close the jaws. The pivoted jaw has a body portion with an arcuate edge which has convolutions and a resilient insert is mounted in the handle adjacent these convolutions. A pin is mounted within the resilient insert and has an extension therebeyond which resiliently engages the edge of the pivoted jaw upon the convolutions so that pin action on the pivoted convolutions enables the user to preselect a spacing between the jaws and then obtain ratcheting operation when the wrench is applied to a nut.

The Kanta type wrench, which exists in the prior art, includes a handle, a pair of jaws wherein one of the jaws is pivotally mounted to the upper end of the handle and the other jaw has a rack portion which is slidably mounted on the pivoted jaw, and the upper end of the handle has a pinion which meshes with the rack so that relative rotation between the handle and the pivoted jaw causes the jaws to undergo opening and closing movements. This wrench Works quite satisfactorily above water for tightening or loosening nuts which are easily accessible from all directions. However, in a water environment this type of wrench has posed some serious problems to effective utilization thereof.

In a water environment the most troublesome situation for the Kanta wrench has been operation on a nut which is threaded on a horizontal bolt and which is inaccessible to the jaws of the wrench from a side of the nut opposite the diver. In this instance one hand operation of the diver is feasible only in either tightening or loosening the nut, depending upon the directions of tightening and loosening. In one of these operations the jaws of the Kanta wrench will open by gravity so that the diver can easily apply the wrench, however, in the opposite operation the jaws will close by gravity and it will then become necessary for the diver to utilize his other hand for holding the jaws open so as to encompass the nut prior to the desired operation. In a water environment it is highly desirable that the wrench be usable by one hand for all operations and further that the wrench retain a preselected position when the diver removes the wrench from one nut and takes it to another nut of a similar size for another operation.

The present invention has overcome these problems by providing an arcuate edge on the pivoted jaw of the Kanta wrench with convolutions, a resilient insert mounted in the handle adjacent these convolutions, and a pin mounted within the resilient insert with an extension therebeyond to resiliently engage the edge of the pivoted jaw within the convolutions. In this manner pin action on the pivoted jaw convolutions enables the diver to manually preselect a desired spacing between the jaws and then apply the wrench to a nut with ratcheting action. Further, when the wrench is utilized for a series of similar ice size nuts the jaws are always appropriately spaced for a tightening or loosening operation as the wrench is removed from one nut and then applied to another.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned problems associated with prior art selfadjusting wrenches;

Another object is to provide a self-adjusting wrench wherein a diver can preselect a desired jaw spacing which will be substantially maintained until manually changed by the diver;

A further object is to provide a self-adjusting wrench which a diver can operate with one hand to perform all tightening and loosensing operations of a nut in a submerged environment; and

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as it becomes better understood by reference to the description and accompanying drawings which follow.

FIG. 1 is a face view of the self adjusting wrench; and

FIG. 2 is a side view of the self adjusting wrench with portions cut away to show various details thereof.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like numerals designate like or similar parts throughout the several views there is shown in FIG. 1 a resilient self-adjusting wrench which includes a handle 16, and a pair of jaws 12 and 14. One of the jaws 12 has a body portion 16 which may be bifurcated into bifurcations 16a and 1611, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The bifurcations receive the upper end of the handle it and are pivoted thereto by any suitable means such as a pin 13 with slightly flattened ends so that the jaw 12 is provided with pivoting action with respect to the handle 10.

The other jaw 14 has a rack portion 20 which is longitudinally slidably mounted on the pivoted jaw 12 so that respective gripping surfaces 22 and 24 are capable of opening and closing movements with respect to one another. The slidable mounting may be accomplished by providing the rack portion 20 with a slideway 26 which receives an inwardly projecting slide 28 of one of the bifurcations, such as bifurcation 16a.

The upper end of the handle 10 is provided with a pinion 30 which meshes with the teeth 32 of the rack 20 so that relative rotation between the handle 10 and the pivoted jaw 12 causes the jaws 12 and 14 to undergo the opening and closing movements.

Each of the bifurcations 16a and 16b of the pivoted jaw 12 may be provided with a respective bottom arcuate edge 34 and 36. Each arcuate edge, one of which is illustrated in FIG. 1, is provided with convolutions 38. A resilient insert, which may be an elongated neoprene plug 40, extends transversely through the handle 10 in a position adjacent to the convolutions of the edges 34 and 36. A detent, such as a pin 42, is mounted longitudinally within the plug 40 so as to extend transverse to the handle 10, and has an extension beyond the plug at each end which resiliently engages a respective edge 34 and 36 upon the convolutions.

The number of convolutions 38 can be designed to provide the desired fineness of adjustment of spacing between the jaws 12 and 14. As shown in FIG. 1, it is desirable that the convolutions be substantially arcuate and meet at sharp points so that the pin 42 will readily pass from one convolution to the other. It is also desirable that the pin 42 have a diameter which substantially mates with any individual convolution.

Since most nuts are hexagonal the gripping surfaces 22 and 24 of the jaws have been provided with respective notches which will enable a hexagonal nut to be engaged on four surfaces during a tightening or loosening operation. Further, I have found that this notching minimizes ratcheting movement of the wrench during either of these operations.

In the operation of the wrench, the diver simply holds the handle in one hand and pushes with his thumb on the body portion 16 of the pivoted jaw 12 in an appropriate direction to present the spacing between the jaws so as to receive the nut he wants to work on. During this adjustment the pin 42 will ride over the convolutions 38 until it is received by the convolution which provides the desired spacing between the jaws. The diver then encompasses the nut with the jaws 12 and 14 with an appropriate side of the wrench for either tightening or loosening the nut. It should be noted that the nut may be located in any position from the diver and the jaws will retain their desired spacing so that the diver can perform either a tightening or loosening operation with only one hand. This then frees the diver to utilize his other hand for other functions, such as positioning himself in the water or holding a light. Further, when the diver desires to tighten or loosen another nut of a similar size the wrench is readied for this operation with an appropriate spacing between the jaws without requiring any additional adjustment.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

I claim:

1. In a self-adjusting wrench:

a handle;

a pair of jaws;

one of the jaws having a body portion which is pivotally mounted to the upper end of the handle;

the other jaw having a rack portion which is slidably mounted on the pivoted jaw so that the gripping surfaces of the jaws are capable of opening and closing movements with respect to one another;

the upper end of the handle having a pinion which meshes with said rack portion so that relative rotation between the handle and the pivoted jaw causes the jaws to undergo the opening and closing movements;

the body portion of the pivoted jaw having an arcuate edge which has convolutions; a resilient insert mounted in the handle adjacent said convolutions; and a pin mounted within the resilient insert and having an extension beyond the insert which resiliently engages the edge of the pivoted jaw within consecutive convolutions, whereby pin action on the pivoted jaw convolutions enables: spacing between gripping surfaces of the jaws to be preset to a particular nut; ratcheting operation when the wrench is applied to the nut; and retention of the preset spacing when the wrench is removed from the nut. 2. In a self adjusting wrench as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

the body portion of the pivoted jaw is bifurcated and receives the upper end of the handle for the pivotal mounting; each bifurcation has a respective arcuate edge which has convolutions; said resilient insert is an elongated plug which extends transversely through the handle; said pin is mounted longitudinally within the plug so as to extend transverse to the handle and has an extension at each end which resiliently engages an edge of a respective pivoted jaw bifurcation. 3. In a self adjusting wrench as claimed in claim 2 wherein:

the gripping surface of each jaw has a notch.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 602,750 4/ 1898 Henderson 81-l27X 1,023,001 4/ 1912 Bennetch 81-127X 783,468 2/1905 Sasko 81127 FOREIGN PATENTS 853,321 11/1939 France.

JAMES L. JONES, JR., Primary Examiner 

